Human geography - The territory - The Park - National Park of the Cevennes

The Park has over 70,000 inhabitants. They are very unevenly divided over 152 districts: low-density rural areas on the one hand, areas under urban influence on the other. The Park – created in a sparsely populated region that had, for over a century, been subject to an intense population exodus – has seen positive net migration since the 1990s.

Population distribution

Distribution of population in National Park

The Park’s territory is marked by a substantial area of low-density population (under 10 inhabitants per square kilometre). Twenty-five percent of the population live on 60% of the land.
The remaining 50,000 inhabitants are chiefly concentrated in an arc that stretches South-West to North-East from Vigan to Les Vans. This “banana” corresponds to the Mediterranean valleys, which have the easiest access to the plains of Languedoc and have experienced industrial development, based first on silk and then, in part, on mining.
The adjacent towns of Alès and Mende are also a draw for several districts within the Park.

A rising population

The welcome center at the reflections of the Watershed Committee of the Cevennes employment for employment development on the territory

Population growth, which began in the 1990s in the least densely populated part of the territory, is now confirmed throughout the Park, and has probably accelerated since 1999.
The natural decline due to a relatively elderly population is compensated for by mostly positive net migration. From 1990 to 1999, net migration corresponded to 5,600 new persons, 88% of whom were from urban areas. Proportionately, the more rural part of the territory has benefited most.
In proportion to its original population, the territory is thus experiencing migration that is almost as strong as that of Languedoc-Roussillon as a whole.